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Ian Dury
Ian was an English singer-songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s. He is best known as the lead singer of the bands Ian Dury and The Blockheads and Kilburn and the High Roads. Ian portrayed Noah in the 1996 film The Crow: City of Angels. Early Life Ian Robins Dury was born on 12 May 1942 at his parents’ house in Harrow, Middlesex, England. His father William George was a bus driver and former boxer, and his mother Margaret Cuthbertson Walker was a health visitor. Ian and his family moved to Switzerland after the Second World War where his father worked as a chauffeur. Ian attended Chailey Heritage Craft School, a school for disabled children after he contracted polio at the age of seven. He left the school at sixteen and started to study painting at the Walthamstow College of Art. In 1964, Ian studied art at the Royal College of Art under Peter Blake. In 1967, Ian taught art of various colleges in the south of England and he painted commercial illustrations for the Sunday Times in the early 1970s. Career Ian formed Kilburn and the High Roads in 1971 and their first gig was at Croydon School of Art. Ian was the vocalist and lyricist and he cowrote with pianist Russell Hardy. The band was first managed by Charlie Gillett and Gordon Nelke, before being managed by Tommy Roberts. The group eventually to split in 1975 after failing to rise above cult status. Sometime after Kilburn and the High Roads disbanded, Ian started fronting the band The Blockheads which was known as Ian Dury and The Blockheads. The Blockheads had a number of musical influences such as Jazz, Rock and Roll, Funk, and Reggae. The Blockheads performed on the Live Stiffs Tour alongside Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis, which was a success. Ian also acted in a few television series such as King of the Ghetto (1986), His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Different for Girls (1996), and The Crow: City of Angels (1996). Personal Life Ian married to Elizabeth Rathmel on 3 June 1967. Their daughter Jemima was born on 4 January 1969 and his son Baxter was born on 18 December 1971. The couple divorced in 1985 but remained on good terms. In 1985, Ian cohabitated with a teenage fan, Denise Roudette for six years. In 1996, after being diagnosed with cancer, Ian married his girlfriend, Sophie Tilson, and they had two sons Bill and Albert. Death Ian was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1996 and he underwent surgery but tumors were later found in his liver. Shortly after this he was told that his condition was terminal. Two years later in 1998, Ian‘s death was incorrectly announced on XFM radio by Bob Geldof possibly due to hoax information from a listener. Ian died two years after this on 27 March 2000 at the age of 57 from metastatic colorectal cancer. Trivia * Ian was a UNICEF goodwill ambassador Category:The Crow: City of Angels Cast Category:Deceased Actors